Building land sales in the third quarter leapt 13 per cent quarterly, and 21 per cent annually, to 4,293 sales, according to the latest official figures.
By size of population, there were 442 sales in municipalities with less than 1,000 residents, up 13.6 per cent on last year; 867 sales in municipalities with between 1,000 and 5,000 residents, up 11.6 per cent; and 558 sales in 5,000 to 10,0000 inhabitant municipalities, up 18.3 per cent.
In bigger urban areas, with populations of 10,000 to 50,000, there were 1,418 sales, up 29.6 per cent, and in the biggest of all, municipalities of more than 50,000 inhabitants, there were 1,008 sales, up 66.6 per cent on Q3 2013.
In terms of land surface areas sold, 5.3 million square metres were sold in Q3 2014 for €667.6 million. Compared with Q3 2013, 4.5 per cent more land was sold for 20.4 per cent more money.
Price Differences
The average price for a square metre of land in Q3 2014 fell by 3.3 per cent year-on-year to €142.6 /sqm. Compared with the previous quarter, the average square metre price dropped by 2.6 per cent.
In municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, the average square metre price fell by a year-on-year rate of 19.2 per cent to €208.6 /sqm.
The highest average prices were in Barcelona (€539.1), Guipúzcoa (€415.6) and the Balearics (€412.8). The lowest were found in Badajoz (€67.5), Murcia (€68.3) and Burgos (€121.9).
Overall, the story we see in these figures is one of a market coming back to life after a total freeze of five years or more, but with prices still falling to reflect the continued imbalance between supply and demand.
We can expect the prime building land market to continue recovering in 2015.
